


Fire Nation Tourism

by CaptainOfTheKryptonSpacemarines



Series: ATLA and LOK Challenge 2020 [3]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Gen, Letters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:48:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26171452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainOfTheKryptonSpacemarines/pseuds/CaptainOfTheKryptonSpacemarines
Summary: Mako's letter to his brother during his vacation to the Fire Nation.
Relationships: Bolin & Mako (Avatar)
Series: ATLA and LOK Challenge 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1857409
Comments: 8
Kudos: 20





	Fire Nation Tourism

Bo:

I hope you and everyone else are doing well.

I think it must be said as well: I hope you can all forgive me for giving no warning other than letting Lin know that I was taking a vacation.

With everything that’s been going on, I needed the time for myself.

Korra can tell you all about the good it does to travel alone for a while, and say what you will about the differences between where she went, how she did so and me going to see the sights of the Fire Nation one hotel room at the time, I still say it counts.

As for the Fire Nation and my time here: It’s beautiful, Bo.

I could send every postal card I find and still I wouldn’t be able to truly show you how beautiful these islands are. It’s a beauty that must be seen in person to be appreciated. To be believed.

After some digging through old archives and tracking down, I found Mom’s family and much to my regret I can only say that what Mom said about them wasn’t even close and we spared ourselves a world of unnecessary tears when we stayed in Republic City. Dad had a far better luck when it came to extended family.

Apologists of The Hundred Year War. Yes, in this day and age.

That’s all I’m going to say and I’ve already spent more ink than what they deserve.

As for the Fire Nation: There’s nothing like it.

Endless fields of green dotted by gorgeous flowers under a shinning sun and under a sky so clear you’d think it’s magic.

Open country and small towns filled with life. Festivals and carnivals with all the mayhem that comes along with them. This alone must have you smiling if I know you (which I do because I raised you)

Mountain ranges and volcanoes that give this place its name. As a Fire Bender I can’t describe to you with enough accuracy the raw power I felt when I visited where the Old Fire Temple was.

Some townsfolk say they saw Korra here in one occasion and the timeline seems to match but whatever she did when she went on her own is her business.

However the question haunts me: Am I petty in some way for avoiding the places Avatar Aang visited back in his day?

Do you remember the stories we use to hear from Old Man Zolt about him growing up after the war? Of his older brother dying in the Siege of The North when the Moon Spirit sent half the Fleet into the ice?

Almost every place I’ve been to keeps that memory alive, some more than others. You see monuments to the men and women who for one brief moment had the world on its knees all over the place and the big cities seem to have them in each street; with them the quick, low insult to Avatar Aang for doing what he did. The whole, long list of things he did.

They seem to have the idea that Aang sparing Ozai robbed them of a decorous defeat, as if what they did deserved any décor or a proper final battle, with the ensuing bloodbath, even after a century of it. I can’t comment on it given I’ve never had much interest in history or politics, but maybe this is something Korra might want to check out if she can spare the time.

The Army and Navy are still the darlings here and had Fire Lord Izumi gone to war with Kuvira’s Empire I have no doubt this place would’ve rallied to the cause with the full might of fire, smoke and machinery that Zolt used to ramble about.

I visited the town where Katara impersonated a spirit and let me tell you: a Waterbender being honored amongst countless tributes to the Fire Nation Army and Navy is quite the sight. The place is a tourist trap and, yes I did get you souvenirs from there.

A less savory monument (or at least I think Korra would find it so) is the place where Bloodbending was invented. The prison where they kept the Old Witch the first time is one of the many places that went from an Army facility to a War Museum. The place where they kept her the second time is still the town’s prison (undoubtedly because it’s so fortified Republic City’s Penitentiary looks like a make-shift holding pen) but they keep some trinkets in display: An old hair comb and some other things Katara seemingly sent later as a form of official apology from the Water Tribes.

I don’t know how much you remember –and once again I’d beg you to tell me what you do remember of them– but Mom would tell us story about the spirits that lived in the woods and the rivers that run freely here and those seem to check out: A lot of people think I’m a local from one of the minor islands, taking a tour around the bigger ones, because every time they think they can get a coin out of me with a local folk story, they end up chatting me up about local politics whenever I shut them down telling _them_ the story they had in mind.

I’m in the capital at the behest of Lord Zuko, who somehow heard I was here and before I knew what happened, had invited me to Court. General Iroh is a welcome presence but his face tells me he’s thinking what everyone thought back in the day when the news broke: How am I dealing with Korra and Asami?

It’s funny, really -at least to me it is turning to be hilarious- how I’m the last one anywhere I go to NOT make a huge deal out of them being together.

I am rambling, Bo and I apologize for that.

Tomorrow I’m going to be shown around the Imperial Palace and the nervousness keeps me awake because the things you hear about Fire Lord Izumi.

Spirits, you’d think she’s Azula’s daughter, not Zuko’s.

Political purges, purges of Army and Naval Officers, purges of the people who did the purging and were too eager to purge. Bombs, knives in the dark –figuratively and literally-, plots and plots within plots as people count the years until Sozin’s Comet is back.

Mom left for good reasons. This place isn’t for someone as kind as she was.

Wash your ears, wash behind your ears and make sure Pabu is clean before bringing him to bed.

-Mako

**Author's Note:**

> This is a bunch of headcanons I have about the Fire Nation. Feel free to ask about them in detail.
> 
> Hope you liked this! Please check out my other stories!!


End file.
